American Wenge

General Description:

The clearly define heartwood is dark brown, with very close, fine, almost black veins. The closely spaced whitish bands of parenchyma give the wood a most attractive appearance. It is fairly straight grained with a coarse texture.

Mechanical properties:

This heavy density wood has a high bending strength and high resistance to shock loads, with medium crushing strength and low stiffness. It has a low stream bending classification.

Seasoning:

The timber season slowly and requires care to minimize surface checking tendencies. There is small movement in service.

Working Properties:

The material works fairly well with machine tools and with a moderate blunting effect on cutting edge the presence of resin cells in the wood sometimes interferes with gluing and polishing. Nailing is difficult and requires pre-boring. When filled, it can be brought to a satisfactory finish.

Durability:

Durable and resistant go termites. It is extremely resistant to preservative treatment.

Uses:

The high natural resistance to abrasion makes this timber very suitable for flooring strips or blocks. Also used for interior and exterior joinery and general construction work. It is an excellent turnery wood. Wenge is unsuitable for plywood manufacturer because of its weight but it is sliced for panelling and decorative veneers for cabinets, marquetry, etc.